San Antonio lands its fifth Final FourMayor Ron Nirenberg’s couldn’t contain his elation.
“Viva San Antonio,” he shouted into a microphone at the Alamodome before encouraging other city officials, staffers and members of the San Antonio Local Organizing Committee to raise high their glasses of champagne. Riding a wave of momentum from its critically acclaimed hosting of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Final Four, the city learned Monday it will be the site of college basketball’s signature event again in 2025.
“We just hosted the best Final Four in tournament history three months ago, and we had to go to Boston to put on a show about why it will be even bigger and better than what we just did,” Nirenberg said. “And you know what? They agreed with us.”
San Antonio was competing with Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Arlington and Phoenix to host Final Fours from 2023 through 2026. Houston (2023), Phoenix (2024) and Indianapolis (2026) were the other winners after the NCAA snubbed three bigger markets.
The 2018 semifinals drew a sellout crowd of 68,257. Another 67,831 packed the building to see Villanova down Michigan 79-62 in the championship game.
They were the Alamodome’s two largest crowds for sporting events in its 25-year history, far surpassing its previous Final Fours, which drew between 40,000 and 45,000.... Though critics have said the Alamdodome is no longer a top-tier facility for sporting events, officials said the city’s continuous investment in upgrades has kept the building competitive.... Ahead of this year’s Final Four, San Antonio spent some $60 million on a facelift that included a new audio-video system and scoreboards and a renovation of the dome’s lower concourse.
San Antonio’s pitch to the NCAA in Boston included a promise that the city would continue to enhance and renovate the Alamodome leading up to the 2025 event.
But it’s unlikely the dome itself was San Antonio’s top selling point. During the live Twitter broadcast announcing the NCAA’s choices, Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, said the Alamo City’s compact downtown is a favorite of fans, coaches and players.
“The condensed footprint of San Antonio, with the Alamodome being so close to the Convention Center, all the hotels around the River Walk, that makes it a very convenient place for the Final Four to be held,” he said....
“The San Antonio pitch is as much about the city that our citizens have chosen to build as it is about the basketball being played and the arena it’s being played in,” he said of landing the 2025 Final Four. “This is really about San Antonio being a premier city to live in and visit.”
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